Richmond firefighters hand out smoke alarms

The Richmond Volunteer Fire Department believes every home should have a smoke alarm.
If you live in the vicinity of the Richmond community but do not have an alarm, the firefighters will make sure you receive one. The fire department recently received a grant from the state fire marshal’s office to provide district residents with alarms.
“We’re received 250 of them, and we’ve put in 200 in houses already,” Fire Chief Joe Banik said last week. “We’re going to have a hundred more coming in.”
Banik said each alarm, which comes with Lithium batteries, is good up to 10 years. To request a smoke alarm, call Banik at (662) 401-0749 after 5 p.m. or talk to any Richmond VFD member.
“We’ll come out and assess how many they need in their home, and we’ll put as many as they need,” Banik said.
In addition to installing the alarms, the fire department will go over a safety course with homeowners on how to protect themselves and their family in case of fire.
Lee County Supervisor Joe McKinney, whose district includes Richmond, said preventive measures such as installing smoke alarms can improve the local fire rating.
“The better the fire rating, the cheaper insurance will be for home owners,” he said. “It’s based on everything from response time to equipment, and it goes into a formula based on how many calls each area receives. It’s a pretty complicated formula.
amp”Not only will the smoke alarms help the rating, they will save lives and property.amp”
For additional tips on home fire safety, visit the Lee County Neighbors blog at NEMS360.com.
School’s out
This week’s edition marks the end of Lee County Neighbors’ In the Halls features and School Roundup for the 2008-2009 academic year.
I would like to thank the students and teachers from Nettleton, Mooreville, Saltillo, Tupelo, Baldwyn, Shannon, TCPS and Faith Christian for their contributions to Neighbors. The school news will resume in August.
Bobby Pepper is editor of Lee County Neighbors. Contact Bobby at (662) 678-1592 or bobby.pepper@djournal.com.